


it was you i was thinking of

by cataphora



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - High School, Cunnilingus, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Oral Sex, Rule 63, dumb teenagers in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:35:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25156333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cataphora/pseuds/cataphora
Summary: Donghyuck wants to ask Renjun to the homecoming dance, but she's a coward.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 123
Collections: Renhyuck Fic Fest Round 1





	it was you i was thinking of

**Author's Note:**

> for prompt #21   
>  much thanks to rhff mods u___u

Donghyuck watches the changes in the boy’s expression like the changing seasons, from nervousness to excitement to hopeful, and finally disappointment. She feels bad about feeling happy about it, so she keeps a straight face when Renjun returns to their table.

“What did he want from you?” she asks, keeping it as casual as she can while twirling her straw around her finger.

“He asked if I already have a date for the homecoming dance, and then he asked me if I would like to go with him,” says Renjun.

“Oh,” replies Donghyuck, looking at the boy again from the corner of her eyes, who has now retreated back to his table with his friends. She knows him. He’s the school’s quarterback, and like in every cliche high school movie, he’s the most popular one on the field and off. The protective helmet covers his face the entire game, but whenever he takes it off, almost the entire field roars. Even louder than when someone scores.

Sitting across from her, Jaemin raises her brows. The corners of her glossy pink lips curl as a smile spreads across her face. “So? What did you say?”

“No.” Renjun shrugs, going back to her abandoned lunch. Whatever reputation the boy has, Donghyuck gives him credit for having the guts to ask Renjun out in the middle of the cafeteria. “I don’t know him. I’m not going with a stranger.”

Donghyuck stops the straw twirling and blinks at her, unsure if she should be disappointed or impressed.

“Then who you’re gonna go with?” Jaemin asks.

Renjun lifts her gaze at Jaemin, and turns aside to look at Donghyuck. “Who knows,” she says nonchalantly, shrugging again. “But not him.”

Donghyuck presses her lips into a straight line and watches as Renjun reaches for her own drink, and the way Renjun’s glossy lips are rounded around the straw. Donghyuck swallows, then looks away.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


So here’s the thing:

Donghyuck may or may not have a crush on Renjun. The answer differs depending on the situation or the person asking, but then again Donghyuck has a pride issue and never admitted to liking those bad teen movies on Netflix even though she’s seen every single one of them. At least twice.

The thing about Renjun is not only that she’s smart and cute and funny and talented as hell in everything she does, no one else can rile Donghyuck up and make her laugh almost at the same time. Donghyuck loves the exhilaration she gets when she’s with Renjun and no one else but Renjun can give her that feeling.

It doesn’t help that Renjun is incredibly hot and has almost the entire school under her shiny heeled oxford shoes that she wears to school everyday. Donghyuck is not one to self-deprecate, but there are times when she sees Renjun walking down the hallway from a distance, she would second guess that she’s the person Renjun is waving at.

The thing is, Donghyuck wasn’t even going to let Renjun know about how she feels. Not then, not now, not ever. But then, every single time she sees a random boy from their school (hell, there was even a dude from another school across their town) corners Renjun to ask her to take her to homecoming, Donghyuck gets these bouts of anxiety and jealousy that f _uck, I should be the one doing that_.

Well, unfortunately for Donghyuck, she lacks the one thing that you need to ask a person out, and that is courage. Or to put it in simpler terms: Donghyuck Lee is a coward.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


She’s holed up in the library to concoct a thorough plan to ask Renjun out (and also a backup plan in case she says no) when Jisung slides into the seat across from her. Which is weird, because 1) even though they’ve known each other since forever, they didn’t really start talking to each other until Renjun moved here, 2) even then, they don’t really acknowledge each other if Renjun is not around, 3) what the hell is Jisung even doing in the library?

“Can I ask you a rhetorical question?” he begins without a greeting. Donghyuck would have more to say about his manners if she wasn’t so busy trying to hide her notebook and hoping he didn’t catch Renjun’s name on top of the page in glittery pink ink.

“What?” she asks skeptically, reaching for her water bottle and uncapping it even though the ‘no eating and drinking’ sign is right there on the pillar behind her.

“Would you say yes if I asked you to the homecoming dance?”

Donghyuck is not a graceful lady, but there’s no way anyone can _not_ choke when they hear these words come out of Jisung’s mouth. “What did you say?” she asks again in between coughing, wiping the water dripping down her chin and neck and ignoring the concerned (or pissed off, she can’t tell) onlookers.

Jisung grimaces a bit but offers some tissues that he happens to have in one of his pockets. “Like I said, it’s a rhetorical question. I’m not asking you out,” he says.

_Not that I was hoping_ , Donghyuck retorts mentally but decides it’s not worth her breath. “I don’t know. Probably not. Why?”

“Why not?” he asks, looking cross.

Donghyuck shrugs. “I’ve known you since you were little. It’s kinda weird”,” she says, then she tries again: “Why? Is there someone you want to ask out?”

Even though she asked, she didn’t expect that Jisung would actually start blushing and looking embarrassing like a little boy that he’s supposed to be, and he actually looks endearing like this. He avoids her eyes and averts his gaze elsewhere. “There’s… someone.”

Donghyuck brings her hands up to her mouth in shock. She really didn’t expect this. “Oh my god. Our little Jisungie is all grown up and has a crush now. And he wants to take her to the homecoming!” She can’t help cooing, especially when his face is all flushed. “Who is it?”

“Uh… you know her,” he mumbles timidly.

“I know her?” Donghyuck’s brain is suddenly working at the speed of LTE as she tries to connect the dots. Since of all people he decided to ask _her_ that rhetorical question, it means not only that the girl is one of her friends, she must be from her _batch_. “Is it Jeno?” she asks, recalling the few times she saw them together.

Jisung shakes his head.

“Yeji Hwang? Julia Choi?” Another shake of head. “Yiren Wang?”

“No. I’ve never even talked to her!”

“Then who?”

“You’re looking too far,” is all Jisung says before he gets up and leaves, again without another word. This time Donghyuck is far too confused to say anything about it.

What does he mean she’s looking too far? Who else would it be—

Something clicks in her mind.

“Holy shit, it’s—”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Renjun,” she relays to Jeno the next day. “Jisung Park’s crush is Renjun.”

She was alone in the locker room when Jeno walked in. The practice was extra brutal today to make up for losing their last match, Donghyuck almost had to crawl her way back to the room and hadn’t gotten up from where she’s sprawled on the bench since then. But despite having zero energy to move, she wasted no time to sit up, grab Jeno’s wrist and pull her down next to her.

“Are you sure?” Jeno frowns, looking doubtful.

“Of course! Who else could it be besides Renjun?”

It has to be Renjun. Ever since she transferred to this school and Chenle introduced the two of them to each other, Jisung has practically followed Renjun around like an obedient puppy. Donghyuck doesn’t blame him because nobody would be able to resist Renjun’s soft smile and the way she would pat his head, and she doesn’t blame Renjun for taking an immediate liking to him because he does act like a puppy anyway. But looking back now, this is probably her biggest mistake.

In Donghyuck’s eyes, Jisung is still that little kid from the neighbourhood. Renjun, however, has never met that kid.

Jisung today is nothing like Jisung from the past. Puberty has been so generous to him that it didn’t just give him a voice so deep Donghyuck sometimes wonders where it comes from, it also gave him an unbelievable growth spurt. And he’s still just 16. And that’s not even all. He’s also so smart that he skipped a grade and now he’s in the same class as the 17-year-olds. God clearly plays favorites.

“I’m so screwed. At this rate, Renjun is never going to look my way,” whines Donghyuck, burying her face in her hands.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” says Jeno, ever the optimist. “Would Renjun even say yes to him? Does she even like boys? I heard she rejected a bunch of them.”

“Well, she dated Lucas Wong last year.”

“So? You had a crush on Mark Lee until last year.”

Donghyuck splutters. “I’ve already erased that nerd from my mind. Thank you very much,” she tells Jeno pointedly, and Jeno is simply laughing, eyes all crinkled up gleefully like she didn’t just casually bring up one of Donghyuck’s most embarrassing memories. No one believes Donghyuck when she says Jeno is the meanest of all. 

But Jeno does have a point. Renjun never specifically said that she’s into girls, but there have been occasions where they see lesbian couples cuddling or being cute together, and Renjun would sigh longingly and say “I want what they have.”

“Still, that doesn’t mean she’ll date me. She’s perfect and I—” Donghyuck pauses as her gaze falls on her lap. “She’s a fancy choux pastry and I’m just a fucking plain loaf.”

“You’re not just any loaf, Donghyuck, you’re multigrain,” Jeno tells her so encouragingly it’s almost moving. “It’s Renjun. If she likes you, then she likes _you_.”

Donghyuck looks at Jeno with moist eyes. She suddenly regrets calling her mean. “You think she will go to the dance with me?”

“Of course! All you need to do is ask,” says Jeno.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Well, the asking is the most difficult part.

On Friday night, Renjun comes over to Donghyuck’s house and hogs the entire living hall as she paints her nails with a cute shade of bright yellow. Donghyuck’s parents are away on a business trip, which really is their code for whenever they feel like going somewhere all by themselves, leaving their teenage daughter alone at home.

Not that Donghyuck minds, though, because that means she could use the excuse to ask Renjun to keep her company.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to do yours?” Renjun asks, looking over at Donghyuck. Both of them are sitting cross-legged on the floor and slumped over the coffee table.

Donghyuck shakes her head. “I have a match next week, so they’d probably get chipped. It’d be a waste of your effort and polish,” she says, eyes fixed on Renjun’s fingers. Renjun has pretty, slim fingers, and they smell of the daisy scented hand cream that she puts on everyday. Sometimes the scent sticks to Donghyuck’s hand whenever Renjun holds it when they walk together. Donghyuck loves it, loves both the scent and Renjun’s fingers, loves—

“I don’t mind, really,” Renjun tells her. “At least your left hand?”

“Nah. Last time someone had her nails done our coach gave her hell.”

Renjun makes a face. “Your coach is a creepy old man who’s just denying your basic rights as a girl to look pretty. I can’t believe he’s being trusted to be around young girls who wear the tiniest shorts to practice.”

“He’s not old. He’s 35,” Donghyuck laughs.

“That’s double our age. Don’t tell me you have the hots for him?”

“I don’t!” she quickly retorts. Maybe a bit too quickly, but Renjun seems unsuspecting enough even though she’s still giving Donghyuck a side eye in between blowing her nails dry. Donghyuck adds: “He’s not my type.”

Renjun raises her brows. “What’s your type then?”

Holding her gaze, Donghyuck ponders the question and weighs her chances. She could come clean now and risk Renjun walking out the door. Probably no more whispering into each other’s ears during class to share secret jokes, or being on the receiving end of Renjun’s dazzling smile, or holding her soft hands. Donghyuck bites her lower lip, hesitating for a bit. “You think?”

“Hmm.” Renjun’s gaze drops to her nails again as she contemplates. Even though her face doesn’t reveal anything, Renjun does this thing where she would unconsciously pucker her lips until her mouth forms a little pout when she’s thinking hard about something. It’s incredibly endearing, especially now when Donghyuck can’t think about anything else but to lean forward and press their lips together.

She doesn’t, though.

Then Renjun looks at Donghyuck again, and grins. “I think we should watch one of your gross romcoms. Then I’ll figure out what kind of guy you’re into.”

“I’m not into—” Donghyuck starts, but stops herself quickly as Renjun grabs the remote control and turns on the TV.

For some reason, they end up watching a horror movie instead because Renjun insists, despite being terrible at them. She sits close to Donghyuck and latches onto her whenever there’s a scary scene. That honestly does more to Donghyuck’s heart than any of the jump scares, and by the end of the movie, Donghyuck is actually sweating.

She realizes that this is a very, very bad idea.

“Are you okay?” asks Renjun when she comes out of the bathroom later after the movie ends, ready for bed, noticing how restless Donghyuck looks.

“Yeah.” Donghyuck nods dumbly. “Perfect.”

It’s a blatant lie, but either Renjun totally bought that or is just pretending, she doesn’t say anything and simply waltzes up to the bed, joins Donghyuck under the covers and nuzzles up to her, her arm draped around Donghyuck’s waist and boobs pressed against her back, knocking all senses out of her.

“Renjun?” Donghyuck calls once she recovers. “Who are you going to the homecoming dance with?”

“I haven’t decided. Why?”

Donghyuck turns so that she’s facing Renjun in bed, but then Renjun slides her thighs between Donghyuck’s and inches closer to her, so close that Donghyuck’s brain short circuits as she realizes that Renjun’s pale lips are less than ten centimeters away. _Do you want to go with me?_ dies in her throat before she can even think about forcing it out.

Renjun cocks her eyebrows at Donghyuck. “Donghyuck?” she calls, and that’s when Donghyuck snaps out of it and—holy shit, she’s been staring at Renjun’s lips so blatantly. The realization sends Donghyuck into panic again.

“I— It’s nothing!” she says quickly.

That only makes Renjun even more confused. “You’re being so weird,” Renjun complains.

“I’m fine,” Donghyuck mumbles, then shuts her eyes to block Renjun out and pretends to sleep.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s totally not fine. Donghyuck can’t stop thinking about Renjun ever.

Renjun clouds her mind when she’s in the class, trying to focus as her teacher rambles on about fucking wombats in Australia. She’s all Donghyuck sees on the board when her coach is explaining the game plan. Even when she’s on court later, she’s still so distracted that she narrowly escapes Heejin’s strike, all thanks to Jeno’s quick action.

“You look so out of it. Are you okay?” asks Jeno, sounding extremely concerned. The rest of their teammates have started crowding around them in worry as well, and this only makes Donghyuck feel more embarrassed.

“I’m okay, I just—” she tells Jeno, but then her coach comes and instructs Donghyuck to take the day off.

Donghyuck doesn’t try to fight. She’s not even in the right headspace to do so, so she simply thanks him and takes off to the changing room. She moves almost on autopilot, grabbing her bag and navigating the hallway towards the school entrance, all while trying to push Renjun out of her mind still.

Her attempt is futile, however, because she’s stopped by someone just after she walks past the freshman lockers, and when she turns around, it’s none other than Renjun.

“You’re walking so fast. Rushing somewhere?” Renjun questions with raised brows.

In contrast to Donghyuck’s sweaty jersey, Renjun looks amazing today. Not like she looks bad or less than amazing on other days, but today Renjun is wearing this yellow colored halter top that exposes her entjre neckline and shoulders. It’s tight and hugs her slim body so perfectly, and Donghyuck can see the outline of Renjun’s bra through the thin fabric. _Fuck_.

“I...m going home,” Donghyuck manages to salvage herself before Renjun could notice her staring. It’s one thing to get off to the thoughts of Renjun sometimes, but it’s a whole different issue to get caught ogling at her best friend’s tits. “What’s up?”

Fortunately, Renjun doesn’t suspect anything. “I’m going to the mall with Shuhua and Jaemin. Do you wanna come along?”

“Are you guys getting bubble teas?”

“We might, but they’re looking for a dress for the homecoming and I thought I’d do the same.”

Donghyuck’s ears suddenly perk up. “Dress for the homecoming?” she asks. “Wait, did you find a date already?”

“Not yet, but it’s no big deal. I’m just gonna get a dress first,” says Renjun, tucking her shoulder length hair behind her ear.

“Oh.” So Jisung hasn’t asked her yet. Donghyuck wonders when he will, and if he’s going to pull off an elaborate event of some sort when he does ask.

“Are you coming?” Renjun asks again.

The thought of Jisung asking Renjun to the dance and Renjun looking pretty in a dress for him deflates Donghyuck’s mood entirely. “Nah. I’m just gonna head back home,” she replies.

Renjun’s face falls a little, but Donghyuck is too distracted by her own thoughts to notice. “Okay then. See you tomorrow,” says Renjun with a tiny smile.

“See you,” Donghyuck returns, then sets out without another glance back.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


In a way, Donghyuck gets her wish granted because the following days are so brutal that she doesn’t have time to think about Renjun, or even see her, besides the brief flashes in the hallways in between periods.

There’s a pop quiz after pop quiz, essays to be written and submitted, and group projects to be done. Volleyball practice has gotten more hardcore too lately. Donghyuck just drifts off asleep as soon she crashes onto her bed by the end of everyday, too exhausted to be figuring out ways to ask her friend to the dance, or to even remember that homecoming is this weekend.

At least, not until Jisung slides into the seat across from her at the cafeteria.

“What do you want,” Donghyuck murmurs with disinterest, picking out the peas from her fried rice. Usually Renjun would scoop all of them into her plate and eat them for her, but she’s not around today to do that.

Jisung, either he’s unaware of Donghyuck’s lack of interest and mood or he’s simply unbothered, just continues cheerfully. “I did it!” he tells her.

“Did what?”

“Asked her to the dance,” he answers, and if he notices Donghyuck choking on her fried rice and how she can’t stop coughing, he doesn’t show the slightest concern. “And she said yes.”

Donghyuck drops her spoon. “She did?”

“Yeah!” Jisung says brightly, unaffected by her pained expression that’s partially caused by the rice and partially caused by the newly received information. “I thought I should let you know, even though, well, you didn’t really do anything.”

“Wait,” Donghyuck interrupts. Jisung should be grateful that she’s too preoccupied with the news that she just ignores his thinly-veiled diss. “How did you ask her?”

“Uh, I just asked? We have AP Physics together, and she sits in front of me.”

Donghyuck doesn’t remember Renjun taking Physics this year, but that’s besides the point. “And she said yes? Just like that?”

Jisung seems mildly confused. Maybe borderline offended too. “Yeah. Why?”

“Nothing,” says Donghyuck, processing everything she just heard.

He didn’t even do anything special or at least pick a special place to ask, and Renjun still said yes. Renjun turned down so many boys before him, but said yes to him. Does this mean she’s been waiting for him to ask all along?

Wait a second. Does this mean Renjun likes—

Donghyuck stands up abruptly. Her chair makes a loud shrill noise when it scrapes against the linoleum floor, and everyone in the cafeteria snaps their heads around. Their attention, however, is the last thing she’s concerned about at the moment. “I gotta go,” she tells Jisung. And she goes.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“My life is over,” Donghyuck whines to Jeno in the locker room later.

Thankfully, Jeno is kind enough to not make fun of her dramaticness or tell her _I told you so_. “If it makes you feel better, you still have the winter formals and prom to go,” Jeno says instead, trying her best to sound encouraging.

”I know, but then Renjun will probably go with Jisung again,” Donghyuck sighs.

“Well, I don’t have any advice for you if that happens,” Jeno admits. She’s sitting beside her on the wooden bench like the first time Donghyuck asked for her advice. “But I do have one for you now that can stop that from happening.”

Donghyuck’s eyebrows raise with interest. “What?”

“Go to the dance with someone hot. Make her jealous,” Jeno proposes.

Donghyuck can’t argue that it’s a stupid plan, because she does want to see the look on Renjun’s face when she sees Donghyuck with someone else. Someone hot, to use Jeno’s words. Well, except— “I don’t know anyone hot,” Donghyuck says meekly. “And I don’t know if there’s anyone hot who would want to go with me.”

“Don’t worry. I know someone,” says Jeno. ”And I think he’ll say yes to you if you asked.” 

”Who?”

“Mark Lee.”

Donghyuck blinks once. Twice. “You’re kidding. Mark Lee is not hot—”

“Yes he is. You’re lying to me and to yourself because we both know you had a crush on him last year,” Jeno argues. She’s casually bringing up this topic again like it’s not affecting Donghyuck in any way. Donghyuck shouldn’t have called her kind so early. “Also, I just saw him the other day. He’s in town. And he’s a thousand times hotter than he was.” 

Even though the idea sounds tempting enough, Donghyuck is still not completely sold on going to the dance with Mark Lee, no matter how hot he might look now and how much she wants to make Renjun jealous. It just hurts her pride. “Can’t I just go with you?” she groans. “Honestly, you’re not bad yourself.”

Jeno chuckles as she pushes herself off the bench to go to her locker, just two steps away from where she’s been sitting. “Thanks for the compliment. Unfortunately I’m going with Chenle.”

”Wait, Chenle? Chenle Zhong? Jisung’s friend?” Donghyuck questions, genuinely baffled.

“The one and only.”

“Isn’t he like, 6?”

“He’s older than Jisung,” Jeno reminds. She’s rummaging through her locker to pack her things back into her ocean blue duffle bag that she’s been using since both of them first joined the volleyball team. It’s a little worn out and faded now.

“Yeah, the last time I checked Jisung was 5," Donghyuck mutters. Is she the only one still stuck in 2007, when things were easier and Jisung was less a threat to her?

Jeno laughs again, then shuts her locker and reaches over to Donghyuck to give her a reassuring pat on her back. “Let me know if you change your mind about Mark.”

“I won’t,” Donghyuck growls out.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Donghyuck finds Mark exactly where Jeno predicted he would be, which is the diner his parents run.

He’s sitting by himself on one of the stools at the counter, watching something on his phone. He didn’t see her coming in, so she takes the opportunity to size him up. He’s wearing a plain t-shirt and dark grey jeans. There’s nothing special about this look, but for some reason she can’t fathom, there _is_ something about this look.

Jeno’s right. He is a thousand times hotter.

Donghyuck coughs and clears her throat before she finally saunters towards him. “Hey,” she says, aiming for sultry but ends up sounding like those Japanese rice crackers Renjun always gets from the Asian mart. “Can I sit here?”

Mark looks up from his phone to look at her, and a familiar smile spreads across his face. At least he seems genuinely excited to see her. “Donghyuck Lee! Of course, sure,” he says, pulling out the stool for her like the gentleman he’d never been. Maybe college did him good. “Can I get you anything?”

Donghyuck takes a look around the diner after she sits down. It’s past 4 in the evening, too late for lunch and too early for dinner, so the place is not too crowded. It’s exactly why she chose to come at this time. “Maybe milkshake?”

Mark leaves his seat for a while to pop his head into the kitchen to relay the order, even though the drinks bar is right there. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in years!” he says afterwards when he returns. His thick rimmed glasses have been replaced by round ones with metal frames that make him look less like a nerd and more like a cool college boyfriend. Donghyuck may have gotten over her crush on him, but she still can’t help the blush that creeps its way into her cheeks when he flashes the easy smile to her. “What are you up to?”

For the sake of laying down the foundation first before she comes clean about the real reason why she’s here, Donghyuck humors him and tells him about her classes and tests and volleyball. In return, she listens to his college stories while twirling her milkshake’s straw around her finger. She learned this move from one of her Netflix movies.

Until she realizes she’s getting sleepier the more she listens.

“Mark.” She cuts him off in the middle of another frat story. “What are you doing next Sunday?”

“Next Sunday?” He frowns.

Donghyuck takes a deep breath. “Do you want to go to the homecoming dance with me?” she asks carefully. It makes her wonder why the words could come out from her mouth so easily when with Mark when she never could find the courage to ask Renjun the same question in the past weeks.

It’s even easier how Mark responded. “Sure! What time?”

Donghyuck blinks at him, unsure if she heard him right or if _he_ heard her right. “Wait, did you hear me right? I’m not asking you to the movies or something.”

“Yeah! You just asked me to the dance and I just said yes,” he says with so much ease. Nerdy high school student Mark would have fainted if a girl asked him to the dance. What did college do to him? He’s still grinning at her and Donghyuck _almost_ feels like she could develop a crush on him all over again if she wasn’t already waist deep in her feelings for Renjun. “So? What time should I pick you up?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


When Donghyuck comes home later, she finds Renjun in her room waiting for her. She’s lying on her chest on the bed with her feet propped up reading a book that she probably plucked out of Donghyuck’s bookcase, and as soon she hears Donghyuck coming in, her face blooms into the prettiest smile and she jumps up to her feet and rushes to Donghyuck.

“Where were you? I’ve waited for you all evening!” says Renjun, but she doesn’t sound upset at all. Only excited to finally see Donghyuck.

“I was—”

But Renjun cuts her off. “Never mind where you were. I have something to talk to you about,” she says enthusiastically, tugging Donghyuck’s wrist to pull her to sit on the bed. “Listen. I know it’s kind of really late now, and I should have asked weeks ago. But to be honest I wanted to come up with something, some better plan, but I couldn’t think of anything and it’s been so busy the last couple of weeks.”

Renjun is speaking too fast and hardly making sense to Donghyuck, who is having a hard time trying to catch up. She’s also trying hard at the same to not get distracted by Renjun’s hand resting on her thigh.

“So after spending so much of my energy overthinking everything I decided that I shouldn’t waste anymore time,” Renjun continues. “And I thought I should just talk to you.”

“Wait,” Donghyuck’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Renjun bites her lower lip for a second as she catches herself. “The homecoming dance.”

“Oh.” Donghyuck can’t help the way her heart sinks. “About that. Actually, I met Mark earlier. And I—” she sucks in a breath and crosses her fingers behind her back. “He asked me to go with him.”

Renjun blinks at her. “What did you say to him?”

“I said yes,” Donghyuck tells Renjun.

Maybe Renjun’s face fizzles with a hundred different types of emotions, but Donghyuck can’t identify a single one. Maybe Renjun’s shoulders drop a little, but maybe Donghyuck’s eyes are playing a trick on her. She can’t tell. “I thought you’re over—” Renjun starts but stops herself, then pauses for a second before straightening out her frown and flashing another smile. “Sorry, I didn’t know Mark is in town so I— That’s good to hear, Donghyuck! I’m glad you’re going with him.”

“Really?” Donghyuck asks, feeling uncertain now.

“Of course!” says Renjun a little too cheerfully, then gets to her feet. “I’ll meet you later, then.”

And when Renjun is facing Donghyuck again, her face is flushed a little red. Donghyuck doesn’t get to wonder what it is and what Renjun was going to tell her because she only says a rushed “bye!” and immediately leaves.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Life works in a funny way, Donghyuck thinks when she goes downstairs and finds Mark in her living room, looking sharp and handsome in his pressed suit and pushed back hair. Her 16-year-old self would have cried and quite possibly drooled at this sight, but the current Donghyuck just wishes Renjun could be here right now to make fun of her.

“Alright kids. Be good and use protection,” her mom says, which makes Donghyuck feel like hauling herself out of the windows.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Haha,” Mark replies, ears burning red.

Donghyuck absolutely can’t believe this. She drags him out quickly to get out of the awkward situation her own parents just put her in, but it just gets worse when she hears her dad’s whistling just before she slams the front door close.

“Parents. Sorry about that,” she tells Mark once they’re in Mark’s car (which he borrowed from his dad for the evening) and she’s made sure her parents are not still watching them.

Mark chuckles as he slips the key into ignition. “No worries. They have a point though,” he says.

Her hands freeze on the seatbelt. “Wait, you’re not actually thinking of _that_ , right? Just to be clear, it’s not going to happen.”

He laughs without answering, and as the car pulls out to the road from where it’s perched by the curb, Donghyuck is suddenly terrified for her life. What if former nerd Mark Lee turns out to be a psychopath and she is his first ever victim? Or maybe not the first. Is it too late to shoot a quick text to Jeno and ask if she could still pull out of this? God, Donghyuck hasn’t even told Renjun she’s in love with her.

Thankfully, before her train of thoughts could stray further away, the school comes into sight.

Donghyuck exhales so loudly in relief that Mark snaps his head towards her. “I drive that bad?” he asks. At least he sounds amused instead of offended.

Once they get inside the gymnasium where the dance is, Jeno spots her right away and waggles her eyebrows before making her way over. “You look nice,” she grins, raises her hand to wave at Mark, and mouths ‘ _he looks great’_ in between while pointing indiscreetly at him.

“Have you seen Renjun?” Donghyuck asks.

Jeno’s eyes crease into crescents as she laughs at the question that surprises no one. “Unfortunately, no. Sorry. I don’t think I saw Jisung either,” she says.

“Oh,” Donghyuck replies, dejected.

In all honesty, she hadn’t planned on spending the evening with Mark even though she did ask him. She’d planned on ditching him as soon as she’s successfully made Renjun jealous. Except now Renjun is nowhere to be seen, so maybe it’s Donghyuck’s karma that she needs to actually spend time with Mark. She glances at him.

At the current moment, Mark is doing this body rolling move which he claimed to have learned in college and she is certain that isn’t allowed here. Donghyuck gives up and leaves him with Guanheng Wong who also graduated a year ago and is here with Yangyang Liu, with an excuse to get some punch.

She’s just about to pull out her phone and shoot a text to Renjun when her eyes find Jisung near the photo wall cosying it up with… Jaemin?

This can’t be happening. Without even thinking it through, she’s already making her way towards them. “Jisung?” she calls.

Jisung’s head snaps up to find Donghyuck. Jaemin flashes her bright cherry-like grin when she turns around, but Donghyuck is so focused on Jisung she doesn’t even bother to glance at Jaemin.

Donghyuck cuts the chase and goes straight to the point. “Where’s Renjun?” she asks.

Jisung’s brows furrow. “Uh, no idea? I thought she’d be here with you,” he returns, looking confused.

“Me? I thought she was your date. You told me you asked her?”

“Renjun? No, I never asked her.” He blinks. “Wait, if you mean—no, the person I meant was Jaemin. She’s my date, not Renjun.”

“What?” Donghyuck is even more confused. She’d been so sure that the person Jisung was talking about was Renjun. The vague hints he gave her pointed at the right direction, except Jaemin had never crossed her mind at all. It makes all sense, now that Donghyuck thinks about it again. “Then who’s Renjun’s date?”

“It’s not you? She told me she was gonna ask you,” says Jisung.

What? “What?” Donghyuck asks again incredulously, echoing herself. Absolutely bewildered.

Suddenly it clicks. Renjun’s refusal to answer when Donghyuck asked her who she wanted to be her homecoming dance date after she turned down every guy who asked her. How Renjun asked her every other day if she had a date yet. The look on Renjun’s face when Donghyuck told her she’s coming with Mark. And— _fuck_ , Renjun was going to ask her the day Donghyuck told her about Mark.

“I messed up,” Donghyuck mumbles. Then, louder. “I messed up. Renjun was gonna ask me, but I— I screwed it up. Fuck.”

“Are you okay?” Jaemin asks, looking concerned. If what Donghyuck said earlier had offended her in any way, she doesn’t appear mad at all. The angel that she is. Jisung, the ungrateful brat, doesn’t deserve her. “Do you need me to call Renjun?”

“Never mind, I just—” Donghyuck is unable to form a single coherent thought. Without finishing her sentence or even saying another word, she just turns around and storms out of the hall.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s kind of embarrassing, but when Mark finds her sitting on the bench outside later and asks her with a genuine concern if she’s not feeling well, Donghyuck comes clean and tells him everything.

Maybe she really needs to reevaluate her life because not only does Mark listen to her intently, he doesn’t even look offended or angry. “Do you want me to drive you to Renjun’s house?” he asks her afterwards.

“Can you?”

“Of course,” he says, then flashes that charming smile that used to make her weak in the knees.

Less than ten minutes later—a record time—Donghyuck is already standing in front of Renjun’s red front door, hand balled into a first in the air, poised to knock. But she’s hesitating. _What if Renjun hates me? What if she doesn’t want to see me?_

_What if she doesn’t even like me, and it’s all my imagination?_

_No_ , Donghyuck then decides. She’s wasted too much time overthinking everything so she can’t afford to lose this chance too.

So she knocks. And after a moment, the door opens.

“Donghyuk?” It’s Renjun. She’s wearing trackpants with a worn out Snoopy t-shirt that Donghyuck has seen so many times, but seeing it now somehow makes her feel like crying. “What are you doing here?” Renjun asks, her eyes widening slightly when she notices the dress. “Why you’re not at the dance? Did something happen?”

“How can I be at the dance if you’re not there?” Donghyuck says. She does feel close to crying now. “Renjun, why are _you_ not at the dance?”

“I…” Renjun hesitates. “Well I don’t have a date.”

“But so many people asked you.”

“I didn’t want to go with them,” she says.

“Then who did you want to go with?”

Renjun lets out a sigh and steps back, and Donghyuck follows her inside to the living room. The TV is on with some animation movie that she knows Renjun has watched countless times already. Renjun drops into her seat on the couch, and then pats the space beside her, gesturing for Donghyuck to sit.

Donghyuck does as told and takes a deep breath. “There’s something I need to tell you, Renjun,” she begins, gathering all her courage. She’s decided that it’s not time to hide or run away anymore. “I lied when I said Mark asked me. I asked him. And the reason why I asked him was… to make you jealous.”

“What?” Renjun frowns.

“It’s a long story—and it’s a stupid one. I thought you were going with Jisung.”

“But Jisung is—”

“I know. I just found out—just now, actually,” Donghyuck admits. “I misunderstood the situation. When I heard Mark is in town, I asked him on a whim since I couldn’t think of anyone else.”

“Why did you do all that?” Renjun asks.

“Because… the person I wanted to go to the dance with was you,” Donghyuck confesses. Quietly, lowering her head. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have assumed things on my own and acted so impulsively. I should’ve asked you directly instead of thinking too much, worrying about how things might change between us, and I should’ve—”

She’s interrupted by the sudden press of soft lips against her own, and when she recovers, Renjun is grinning at her.

“The person I wanted to go to the dance with was you,” says Renjun. “I like you, Donghyuck Lee.”

Donghyuck opens her mouth. Closes it. Opens it again. Then pouts at her. “That’s not fair. I wanted to tell you first.”

Renjun just laughs at that. “You can still do that.”

She huffs. “I,” she begins, then looks at Renjun. Renjun, who she’s known for so many years. Renjun, who’s watching TV in her living room in loungewear on the school dance night even though so many boys asked her to be their date. Renjun, who turned down everyone because she just wanted to go with her. Renjun, who told her she likes her. A smile slowly blooms on Donghyuck’s lips. “I want to kiss you again.”

Renjun smiles back. “You can do that too.”

And so she does.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Just to make it clear,” Donghyuck says all of a sudden, pulling back and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Are we going to the prom together?”

Renjun groans, throwing her head back onto the pillow. “God, Donghyuck. Must you really ask that now?” She sounds just as frustrated as she looks. She probably is. Trust Donghyuck to ask this when they’re naked in her bed and she’s in the middle of eating Renjun out.

“I mean, I don’t want to misinterpret things again,” she says.

Renjun rolls her eyes, but she can’t help the fond laugh she’s letting out at the same time. “Fine, if it makes you happy,” she says, reaching forward to cup Donghyuck’s face. “Donghyuck Lee, will you be my date to the senior prom?”

Donghyuck’s face lights up as she breaks into a smile. “Gladly.”

“Now will you please go back to what you were doing before you rudely interrupted yourself?” demands Renjun.

Who’s Donghyuck to say no? She grins up at her and ducks back down after pressing a sweet kiss on Renjun’s lips, then laps her tongue across her clit. Renjun’s hips buck in response when Donghyuck begins to lick into her, but Donghyuck’s hand on her pelvis is pinning her down onto the mattress.

“Oh, fuck,” Renjun whines as Donghyuck’s tongue dips into her clenching hole. Her nails dig into the skin behind Donghyuck’s back while Donghyuck works her mouth around Renjun’s clit, sucking her. It’s already dripping wet, and Donghyuck laps it all up like her life depends on it.

“You taste so good, Jun,” she murmurs, moaning into Renjun’s pussy. Her nose bumps against the folds, and Renjun mewls so loudly.

Thank goodness Donghyuck’s parents won’t home again tonight.

“Holy shit, I think I’m close,” Renjun mumbles, and then she’s hit with a wave of pleasure, her back arching off the bed as she shakes and whimpers her name.

Donghyuck crawls up after that, starts pressing kisses on Renjun’s neck and sucks into the skin there while Renjun’s hand travels down to find Donghyuck’s clit. Her thumb rubs circles around it and between her folds, and that’s all it takes to make her come as well, sticky fluids spilling everywhere into Renjun’s hand.

Renjun pulls her hand away and brings one of her glossy fingers into her mouth, winking at Donghyuck. Pupils blown wide, she lets out a scoff before pulling her down by the hand behind Donghyuck’s neck, crashing their lips and licking into her mouth hungrily.

“I’ve got the best idea,” Donghyuck says later as they lay side by side facing each other after she collapsed on the bed. Renjun’s cheeks are flushed and her lips are so swollen, and Donghyuck can’t help the way her chest swell with pride knowing that she’s the cause of that.

“What?” Renjun raises her brows while stroking Donghyuck’s cheekbones.

“Let’s get matching dresses.”

“Ugh, you’re so tacky,” Renjun complains, but she’s beaming so fondly at her.

“But you love it,” Donghyuck chuckles, shifting closer and nuzzling her head into her girlfriend’s neck. “You love me.”

“Mm,” Renjun murmurs, letting her eyes shut. “You love me too.”

  
  
  
  



End file.
